Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1887-01-01
CALIFORNIA.
LoorrIsuEp rnoM gEooED 60


how eongenial its winter climate is to the
people of the northern ATTITUDES. To the
Californian abroad il is difficult to realize
that the climatic condition Of his home il
averity. He witnesses the sudden change:
from heat to cold and cold to heat. The
uncertain and unsettled condition Of the
weather in any portion Of the year-tht
sultry, overpowering heat Of summer
with its attendant thunder-storms, its de
structiye lightning strokes, its tornadoei
and cyclones, its sunstrokes-all this being
changed only for the rigorous severity O
winter, with all It's repellant inhospitality
and its menace 10 life and health. The
existence of q large area, fertile anC
attractively inhabitable, where neither the
torrid heat Of summer, nor the arctic cold
Of winter is known, may well appear tC
those unfamiliar with the fact as a 70
mantle fable. The existence of such 6
climate is, however, a verify, and so far a.
the southern portion Of this State is con
cerned, its existence has become perfectly
familiar to the people Of the United
States. Perhaps the broadcast and most at
tracive advertisement Of
THE BEAUTY AND THE sALUBRITY OF
THE COUNTRY
Contiguous to Los Angeles was made
known to the world through the papers Of
Helen Hunt Jackson, published in the
/" Century some time since. They were
designed primarily merely as literary
effort, but they possessed a sectional adj
vertising feature of the highest value
IN this they must be regarded as perfect
models Of their kind They avoided all
.ediousness of statistical fact They
ignored statistics of production and ques-
ions of profit, and the disturbing and
liscouraging suggestions inseparable from
he venture Of immigration to q new
country. They appealed only to the
Imagination with pictures of the roman
tic beauty Of the country described. 1t is
not more difficult to-day, in visiting the
locality, to find the Los Angeles Of Mrs. jack
son than in visiting the Crescent City to
ind the New Orleans Of George w. Cable /;
and thus an immigration, comprising
chiefly people in the middle and higher
circumstances financially, set in. To the
most of these the question OF
profitable investment is subordinate.
The question Of d genial winter
home is paramount. The claim, however,
1f profitable investment is constantly set
before public attention; but when the
value of land rises to $500 and 81 geo an
acre, and the water necessary to develop
Its fertility costs from 500 TO $50 per
acre annually, the product has not vet
been discovered which will make profitable
return over any considerable area of ter
ritory.
REAL ESTATE VALUES.
Just here it is pertinent to consider the
source of the value Of real estate. The
land derives its value from two sources
its value either as space upon the surface
of the earth for commercial or manufactur-
ing purposes, as in cities, or for its product,
as farming, horticulture, grazing or timber
land When we depart from the realm of
value IN one case We enter the realm OF
the other As to the value of land
merely for It's surface use, CONNER
cial and manufacturing purposes, a very
high limitation is possible, but lands
dependent for value wholly upon their
product are subject to many, and in most
cases very narrow limitations. The pro-
duct of the soil must bear the cost of its
production, compensate in the productive
/ ness Of seasons Of plenty the loss during
seasons of scarcity, pay taxes and, in fact
make profit which win maintain itself
throughout a series OF years. The value
of land may be determined by con
lidering the profit as interest,
ind the value Of the land as
The principal invested to produce that
interest. 1t is, perhaps, safe to say that
there are as yet no experiments in citrus
culture and viticulture in Southern Cali
'ornia which justify the present quotations
FOR land to be devoted to this class Of cult
IRE, When, however the market value
is attacked from this standpoint, the COM
mon response is that for the most part the
food tide Of immigration which for several
years has been rising higher and higher in
Southern California,
Is NOT IN SEARCH or PROFIT,
But rather in quest Of winter homes, thu.
conferring upon the land portion Of that
value referable to It's value as 4 space on
The surface of the earth, and producing q
blending of the two classifcatiOns. 1t will
However, undoubtedly be found that every
COUNTRY must depend upon its own pro
Guctiveness to sustain It's inhabitants. Nc
great commonwealth can be based upon
The profit Of enterprises prosecuted else
where. At least, no permanent prosperity
can be thus based. The great mass of the
inhabitants Of any country must derive
some profit from the property they own IN
that country; but, making all due allow
lnoe for these things, il must be admitted
that the people who have come 10 Los An
Eeles within the past ten years have
discovered and developed value in the
soil of that country, the existence of which
Vas not suspected by the early settler
Making all due allowance for the extraya-
Fant prices demanded for land in Pasa.
1ena. it must still be admitted that the ex-
tensive orange orchards Of that valley are
far more profitable culture than the
sheep and goat-raising which Immediately
preceded them.
The newcomers of Southern California
have verified the experience Of the world
in another particular, to wit, the high pro
ductiye capacity of the lands under a
favorable climate, by resort 10 artificial
fertilization, through the instrumentality
Of irrigation. The richest and most popu-
Ious countries in the world are those where
land and water have been brought into
contact artificially. OF this truth, Holland
furnishes the most notable example, anc
the Kingdom of Lombardy stands neKt II
the value of its testimony.
100000 AcREs WITH MOST PERFECT
sENuTRoFTcAL CLIMATE
But what is true of Los Angeles would
have been equally true over an area com.
prisiug the thirty millions Of acres Of lane
first referred to in this article, constituting
the great agricultural belt lying below the
line Of equal elevation at 4,000 feet on the
tanks of the Sierras, ard including the
alluvial lands of San joaquin and Sacra-
mento valleys, and the valleys Of the Coast
Range. in the central and northern por-
tions Of the State and al this point We
desire to give special emphasis to i most
obvious and irrefragable conclusion. The
value which is nov attached 70 any lanc
in Los Angeles, San Bernardino or Sar
Diego counties, if they can be maintained
will eventually attach to every acre O
equivalent value in any other portion O.
the State. To any one having IN extensive
acquaintance with the topography ana
climatology of the State Of California Il /: